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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whom did Assunta have "nothing but harsh words for" (7)?
(a) Her children.
(b) Her former fiancé.
(c) Salvatore's former fiancé.
(d) Salvatore's mother.

2. What simile is used to describe Salvatore's hands while he bathes his children?
(a) Like sandpaper.
(b) Like cold stones.
(c) Like buzzing bees.
(d) Like flowers.

3. What type of fish did Salvatore catch during fishing season?
(a) Grouper.
(b) Cod.
(c) Cuttlefish.
(d) Seabass.

4. How is Assunta described physically?
(a) Unattractive and old-looking.
(b) Heavy-set but jolly.
(c) Unkempt and scraggly.
(d) Beautiful and delicate featured.

5. What would Salvatore do when his rheumatism made it impossible for him to work?
(a) Sob in the dark.
(b) Drink till dawn.
(c) Rest on the beach.
(d) Lay in his bed.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Salvatore's family learn his fiancé was not going to marry him before he did?

2. With whom did Salvatore fish with on his boat in the evenings during fishing season?

3. What word is used to describe the size of the "white-washed" house Salvatore and Assunta buy?

4. What work does Salvatore do when he settles home after returning from military service?

5. What did foreigners say about Italian fishermen when they saw Salvatore on the beach?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Assunta described after she and Salvatore marry? What does she look like? What type of person is she?

2. What did Salvatore do for work after he and Assunta married?

3. Though Salvatore found Assunta physically unattractive, what could she offer him if they married?

4. What does the narrator say he set out to do in the story?

5. How did Salvatore's family learn he was not going to marry the girl he loved?

6. Why does Salvatore understand that the girl he loves will not marry him?

7. What would Salvatore do if his rheumatism became too bad for him to work?

8. Describe Salvatore washing his babies near the end of the story?

9. What happened to Assunta's fiancé?

10. What did Salvatore's fiancé tell him "with the blunt directness of her race" (5) when he went to see her at her home after he returned rom military service?

(see the answer keys)

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